Next: Season Six in Review

Each season of “LOST” has a distinct personality. From the story arc to the tone, pacing, and — of course — a new storytelling twist. The sixth and final season of “LOST” brought us the last act of the island story, as well as the confounding “flash sideways.” With the entirety of the show now behind us, we’d like to know: How did you like Season Six? Which episode was your favorite? Which tested your faith? Do you have a favorite character moment, or plot twist, or scene? Let’s look at the journey from “LA X” to “The End” in our traditional season-in-review show!

Please comment below, send an e-mail to lost@hawaiiup.com, or call the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808. We plan to release the podcast on Sunday, June 13, 2010, so we’d love your feedback by Friday, June 11.

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148 Responses to “Next: Season Six in Review”

Well for me there hasn’t been a Tuesday without LOST yet as I have begun to watch the series. For me, it was Season 1 that captured my interest, and although I thought I wanted more mythology answers from Season 6, so far 95% of season 1 is all about the layered characters that we love, so I am becoming more comfortable with the ending.

I can’t say I have a favorite moment of the series because as I am nearly finished rewatching the first series, I am falling in love all over again. It is interesting that even then the same ideas of free will, letting go, and faith vs. science were very very prevalent for our characters. So many lines of dialog repeated by different characters in different scenarios.

I’ve now seen “The End” in its entirety 4 times, and Darlton’s intention of making us feel the emotion of the conclusion still gets me. I cried all four times. I now know exactly how much tissue to bring. : ) So I guess that tells me that the writing must have been pretty good, for me to know what’s coming and still feel it all over again.

I never wanted Jack to ultimately die, but “The End” was beautiful and my favorite moments of season 6 would have to be the character realizations (and ours) of their previous lives and redemeption.

I own all previously released seasons on DVD, and I still intend to by the complete set. I’m sure there are many more of you doing the same. I can’t say the same for any other television show. I guess I’m not ready to “let go” — but then do I really have to?

IF YOU REMOVE THE FLASH sideways from season six , you have a better show and more time to reveal answers. Re-watching the last season is painful knowing that they deliver on nothing. All the time we use wondering how things work in the flash sideways, why one person is here or there, will Sun live, will Sayid be happy, will they remember, is Kate guilty, who got away from the island before it sank, all of it was for nothing since it was a fake world where they were already dead. All of the back and forth does nothing to move the story forward. It’s hard to watch knowing that they intentionally mislead us into a dead end when we think that we were going someplace. Take out all of the Flash sideways pieces and you have Lost without that distracting dead-end street, more focussed and clear still without the answers, but better.

still waiting for the proof that they thought this series out from beginning to end.

If the flash sideways was the only way to bring back my favorite characters and have them discover each other again than I am fine with it. I loved seeing everyone have their moment of recognition and their joyful reunions. It made me happy to see them happy.

I feel like I am in the minority here about that. But I feel like if a person is looking to pick apart the finale and find things to hate of course you will hate it or have problems with it. But if you try to find the good in it and look for the positives you might like it better.

I am a happy ending person and Lost gave me both, a happy ending and a tragic ending (death of Jack, etc) so I got to cry and smile at the same time.

I know we all have our own opinions but like Ryan and Jen, I can live with the unanswered questions especially since I know that some will be answered.

@Ryan – I felt that Jack did have a flash after he fixed Locke, he saw the hatch, but he didn’t want to let go yet, he pushed it away and started to immediately ask about David. He sensed something was off but couldn’t admit it to himself yet.

I also think that Desmond was really in the sideways in “Flashes before your eyes” since he kept thinking things weren’t exactly right there and kept having flashes of the island but kept pushing them away as well. If there really isn’t an alternate reality than that would be the best explanation for Eloise there. Even if she had read Daniel’s journal it wouldn’t have mentioned Desmond’s life with Penny at that time, Daniel was not on the island at the point that Desmond flashed at the hatch.

Last night on Kimmel they reran the episode with Darlton and they said at that time Walt would not be in the finale but they had found a way to resolve his story in a different way, now we know that it will be on the DVD set.

@Julie – I am not ready to let go and probably won’t, I know I’ll enjoy watching the series again. I still watch Buffy sometimes and I still like it just as much as the first time I saw it, the same goes for several other series as well. The difference being in the rewatch is that I won’t drive myself crazy trying to figure everything out and I can just enjoy the show for what it is.

One last thing, what I meant above was not a judgement. I hate to see so many people invested in the show and then be unhappy about the outcome. I can understand your feelings but I feel badly that a positive experience has turned negative for you.

@ Carol ~ I like your point above about Jack re: that it took him a while, gradual bit by bit, to have FULL FAITH. His way was to reason everything (I know I can certainly relate to that!) rather than “let go” and believe.

I think the writers were trying to emphasize that sometimes we don’t have laid-out logic before us, and a ‘leap’ may be necessary to understand certain mysteries (coincedences/ random occurences vs. destiny / higher-power-led circumstances)

It is a challenging message for an atheist (so far) like me, but I highly respect ‘faith’ in others and the yielding purity that goes along with that ~ the mesages of ‘love’ and ‘truth’ and ‘faith’ in Season Six were beautifully depicted.

@Carol – I guess I am in the minority with you. I appreciate the Flash Sideways very much for its dreamlike quality and the jumbled timelines and recursive motifs. I have rewatched the finale four times I think and it still makes me cry – the reunions of Jin/Sun, Juliet/Sawyer, Charlie/Claire/Aaron, Hurley’s tears and refusal to let Jack go (no way dude).

I thought the writers and cast and producers beautifully depicted how much the characters needed each other, and that in saving each other they were saving themselves. In the words of JRR Tolkien, “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” This is not meant to belittle the feelings of those who feel cheated by the FSW and the last episode, but rather to state once more that it worked for me on an emotional level.

As for free will vs determinism, faith vs reason, letting go vs hanging on, season six developed these themes further. As Carol points out, it was really hard for Jack to let go – Rose told him he could let go now, Bernard said he hoped he found what he was looking for, Locke and Kate helped him flash, he ultimately needed his father to help him open his eyes and release his hold on the world.

It seems also that in FSW it’s essential that you free yourself – with some help from others – but they’re not going to do it for you. I’m no longer confused that Sayid left the box cutter for Jin (tied up in the freezer) rather than cutting his bonds. Jin was left to free himself. Locke had to free himself from the chair. Kate from her role as fugitive. Charlie was given multiple opportunities, people rescuing him and drugging and dragging him around; but nothing would have happened for him if he hadn’t brought the blanket to Claire and touched her hand. And Sawyer had to pull the plug.

I’m not ready to let go, myself, of L O S T, and will keep rewatching episodes and maybe the whole series until I’ve gotten all I can.

For me, season 6 started and ended very strong. However, there was a point midway, from about Dr Linus through The Package where it felt very uneven. I’ll focus on this first and get it out of the way. While I still enjoyed those episodes (Dr Linus was a great Ben story, Ab Aeterno was great on a lot of levels, and I am a sucker for Sun/Jin episodes like The Package), they’re not as much fun and to re-watch as the first 6 hours, and last 8 hours of the season. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it was that both the Island story and flash-sideways seemed to have no momentum for this stretch of four episodes.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed season 6. I liked the flash-sideways initially when I though it was a parallel universe. But now having seen the end, I love it even more. Initially, I enjoyed seeing how these characters made the same and/or different decisions in the lives – letting us see the true core of the characters. However, looking back and re-watching, it is even more interesting (talk about a polarizing statement) because they are indeed the exact same characters we have been watching but they are dealing with their unfinished business before moving on. For example, seeing Jack come to terms with his father issues here by creating a life where he is a father and does overcome the exact same issues he had as a kid. He was never able to do this before he died. We watched him let go. Another good example, is Locke. He created a world where he was accepting of his disability. While this was a good thing in many ways, it wasn’t who he really was. He had always been a man of faith, and it took him to reconnect with his “nemesis” Jack to remind him of who he really was. Whether or not he could regain the ability to walk wasn’t his issue, but whether or not he believed it.

Re-watching most of the flash-sideways has been extremely interesting in this regard because it puts a different these characters and their redemption in a different context, knowing who they were, and seeing what issues they really needed to overcome. Not all the characters sideways stories are as obvious as Jack, Lock and Ben, but I’m enjoying figuring out. It’s far more interesting than a parallel universe (which I was a fan of anyway).

Overall, the season kept up the Lost standard. While the mysteries/characters debate will live on as much as the endgame, in the end it doesn’t really matter. I enjoyed both immensely. Even though there are a few mysteries I felt were completely unresolved (the cabin, Eloise, outrigger), for the most part, I think the show has given us enough information for most everything else. They have in fact answered a lot of the mysteries either indirectly, directly or too directly.

In The End, I received an emotional payoff that trumped everything else I had experienced throughout the series. I loved that I was caught off guard with the flash-sideways. I felt like I theorized way too much to ever be surprised again, and then to be both surprised and emotional as much as I was by the last 15 minutes of the series was incredible. Not much in the way of entertainment can really do that to me, and I think that speaks volumes for Lost as a whole.

My favorite aspect of the plot was in regards to Eloise Hawking, or Eloise Widmore as she is known after death. She always seems to know what’s going on, and this is no different in the flash-sideways. I love thinking back to her flash-sideways story after the reveal in the finale; it’s obvious she knows she is dead. This time around, she is giving Daniel a chance to do what he wants (music), since she stopped him from doing that in real life. She is responsible for his death, so she wants to give him the perfect life. She is postponing their “moving on”, so she can give Daniel the life he never got to have. Beautiful!

At the beginning of season 6, we all looked at the Flash Sideways (FS) and went … what?? Did Jack’s plan work, they are landing at LA X. But we started to notice what we would call inconsistencies with the story as we knew it to be. So what was the FS about?

We wondered about the meaning of the FS, the Losties seemed to be happier in this ‘world’. We wondered about the Island being underwater. We understood that something was ‘off’ in this realm. How did these stories in the FS tie into our Island story … were they epilogue? Was the FS a reset?

Then along came ‘Happily Ever After’ and a light bulb came on.

The FS were a very interesting, satisfactory and creative way of giving us character resolutions, instead of just ending the story on the Island and MIB’s ultimate demise. I believe the writers wanted the final scene of Lost to be Jack’s eye closing … how do you go from that very sad moment to showing us how the rest of our Losties fared post Island or post Jack’s death – a very difficult task to pull. Instead we got the FS throughout the season to give us those resolutions and lessons learnt or evolution of the characters, if you will.

Lost has since the beginning given a dual narrative format. First, we had the flashbacks, which in retrospect, showed us how lost, flawed and self destructive each of our Losties lives were. Secondly, we were stunned into the flash-forwards (who did not love that reveal). Those showed us that learning life’s lessons was not going to be easy for these lost souls… they had to go back and make it right. They needed each other and they needed to help redeem each other. Finally, we got the flash sideways, which showed us the conclusion of the character arcs – showing us that redemption was possible, that no man is an Island (ha!) and that you cannot do on your own, and you need to be able to accept what you have done and what others did to you and ultimately let it go.

The FS neatly tied and concluded each character’s arc and therefore Lost as a series, going full circle from where they were (on Island season1 or 2) to where they finished (in season 6 or beyond following the events of the Island for those that survived): The church scene did not invalidate the FS, it happened BECAUSE of the FS. Without the FS, the church scene could not have been possible.

I will quickly here give a few examples, but YAE know the stories as well as I do, so you could fill in the details:

Ben – spends his time on the Island undermining John Locke and finally killing him. In the FS, Ben befriends Locke and stays by his side in the ambulance, helping him and protecting him. Ben also forgives his father and takes care of him.

Roger Linus : is kind to his son.

Jack – works out his issues with his father through the construct that was David. He accepts Claire into his family. With the help of John Locke he learns to remember and let go.

Locke – works out his need to find faith (its never been easy) and his feelings of inadequacies and finds happiness with Helen. With the help of Jack learns to deal with his feelings towards his father and learns to remember and let go.

Anthony Cooper – is beyond redemption and has no say.

Sayid – we see him continuously trying to atone for his crimes (this both on the Island in life and in the FS). In the FS Sayid realizes that his relationship with Nadia would always be tainted by his past actions and he pushed her towards his brother. But he will always protect her. With the help of Hurley, Sayid learns he is a good guy and that he can not let others define him.

Eloise – atones for her murdering her son by giving him a chance to live the life he wanted to, and is afraid that Desmond will cut it short.

These people’s destinies were always tied to each other. The beauty of Season 6 was the telling of that redemption story, the back and forth and the mirroring between Season 1 and Season 6, between on Island and the FS. Our Losties have come so far in their journey and we were there right beside them.

I believe that what will endure as a legacy for Lost is the wonderfully “unwritten”, the subtext that permeates throughout the series. Never, has a television series said so much by saying so little. The subtext in Lost is key (just think of the James and Juilet vending machine scene). We loved that the writers did not pander to the lowest common denominator, we loved that they did not dumb it down, we loved that they peppered us with clues and Easter eggs, we loved to analyze and theorize. The show has always remained true to itself right to the end.

So, for me Season 6 was excellent, there were some moments that I liked better than others, but that is on par with the other seasons. I loved the acting during this season – all the actors surpassed themselves and the emotional impact of this season as a whole, was the result of the great storytelling. We can not have emotional resonance without being invested and we were very invested – because of the characters, their stories, their sacrifices and ultimately their redemption.

My wife and I just re-watched the series finale, and we agreed that the second time around it was even better. Knowing the result made every piece of the puzzle fall neatly into place. We both cried, but this time it was not tears over the ending of our favorite television show, but of the joyful, hopeful, and profound message it ultimately conveyed.

As a writer, I always watched LOST from the storytelling perspective. While the peripheral storylines sometimes wandered, the core of the story never did. That is the nature of all serial storytelling, particularly serial television. The true beauty of LOST was how it compelled each of us to watch. We cared about these people, because we saw so much of ourselves in them. LOST meant something different to everyone who viewed it, and often meant many things simultaneously to each individual.

This six year span was a rare moment in entertainment history. LOST could not have been done on any medium but television. It could not have been technically accomplished in any prior era. And owing to the brilliant melding of the writers, actors, cinematographers and crew, could not have left us with a finer legacy.

@Coolpeace – GREAT POST!!! I totally agree. I also think it was very fitting for Anthony Cooper who lived his whole life with lies and cons, ultimately ending up not being able to talk or con anyone.

I know that some people are upset that not everyone was present in the church, and some people are left out, why wasn’t Jin and Sun’s child there, Helen, etc. Besides the obvious reason that the writers wanted the original losties and Juliet and Penny, and LIbby (because all were involved in great love stories) there are a couple of other reasons.

1. Many others hadn’t let go yet. So they could not be in the church yet.

2. I like to think of the losties meeting in church like this, they are all meeting as an intimate group to share memories and be reunited one last time before all heading to their afterlife where they will all be reunited with everyone else they love. This core group all met and changed and redeemed themselves due to each other. They all helped each other and ultimately they are all there for Jack because Jack was always there for them. He made mistakes but he always acted in what he thought was best for the group. (big emphasis on what “HE” thought was best, lol) Aaron was present as a baby because that was what was needed to help Kate, Charlie and Claire all let go. Kate needed to see Claire and Charlie reunited with Aaron to let go of her guilt. Claire needed Aaron back again to let go of the pain of leaving him. Charlie just needed Claire and Aaron again to be complete.

Locke really didn’t need Helen to let go, he just had to let go of his father and being a victim.

As for the sideways – I think it is a cool concept – that we can work out our past issues and let them go.

I think most of us thought the sideways life would be their life after the island and it was exactly that, just not in the way we imagined. I think of the sidways as their reward for their redemption.

I loved the finale and, in fact, the whole season. I think when I rewatch it, I’m going to watch Ab Aeterno and Across the Sea after the season opener and see how that works in the flow though.
My favorite scene this season? Wow…let’s see…before the finale, Ben’s reaction to Ilana telling him she’d have him because this utilized one of my favorite themes of Lost so very well – redemption and that’s when we saw the beginning of Ben’s redemption. After that, our first glimpse of the temple. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s lived up to the hype as far as construction and the feel of it. In the FSs before the finale, I would have to say Hurley’s awakening. I was just a puddle when he finally remembered but I have to say that Desmond’s awakening was pretty intense too.
I loved the stories of how Richard came to be on the Island and Jacob and MIB’s origin but it’s hard to pick a scene for the list other than I loved the Cave of Light. I thought that was majorly cool. Both stories were moving to the point of tears or at least a lump in the throat.
Sayid’s sacrifice and Sun and Jin’s death. Beautiful and true to their core character and kills me every time I watch it.
The finale…how in the world to choose??
Jack’s death with Vincent laying beside him watching the plane fly over. (sigh…here I go again tearing up!)
The church scene at the end. Blew me away and, once again, employed the redemption theme as well as the letting go theme.
James and Juliet’s awakening.
Hurley becoming the Island #1 and Ben his #2!
Kate shooting Flocke!!! Finally, Super Kate was let loose! Woohoo!
Locke and Ben at the church.
Hurley and Ben at the church.
and, lastly, Kate, Claire and Charlie’s awakening. Absolutely beautiful and apropos considering their relationships.

Thank you, Ryan and Jen, for the podcasts over the years. Your podcast has been one of the things I look forward to. I plan to check out your new podcast when it gets up and running.

@Coolpeace – I second Carol from Boston, really terrific post. All of the posts on Season 6 have been very interesting to read. What a great group of folks, YAE!

@Carol from Boston – I think you are right about why not everyone appeared in the church. Plus, as others have mentioned, it was really Jack’s “awakening” to the truth of the Sideways reality, and so some people who Jack wasn’t particularly close to – like Richard, Eloise, Alex, even Miles and Frank – wouldn’t have been there to greet Jack.

Personally I think that everyone probably got their own separate “welcoming”, either before or after Jack’s, and at a specific location that had meaning to them. Somewhere along the line I’m sure Kate would meet up with (and make peace with) her mom, Charlie would meet up with Liam, etc. Or perhaps they would all eventually gather at the church, and we were just shown the beginning of this gathering. I’m sure Jack would want to see his mom again, maybe even Sarah. Who knows, maybe even Jacob shows up sometime? (Though he’s no doubt somewhere coming to terms with his mother and brother, perhaps in a place *they* created to find each other again).

Come to think of it, maybe – if we go by the parallel universes model – there are a number of “worlds” – not all in L.A. – where everyone is meeting up with the people most important to them. For instance, I doubt Rousseau would have considered Ben important to her. But she was important to Ben, because of lingering guilt, and so she appears in his “Sideways”, though he might not appear in hers.

Before season six started I saw a preview of the plane scene in which the plane does not crash. I remember gasping and I couldn’t wait for season six to start. When I watched the show and it was also revealed that the bomb went off in they were back on the island in the present I was very confused. How could they be in two places at one time? How could that be possible and we were told it was not an alternate reality. Yet, even when we were told that we couldn’t let the concept go, we tried to work around it, perhaps it was a new future caused by the final battle yet to come? Maybe it was them reliving the past and somehow they still ended up on the island, but then why didn’t they have any memories of the sideways?

We were all confused. For the whole season that didn’t change, but through the sideways we rediscovered our old friends in a new way and it became like season one again trying to figure out their new lives and how they would all connect to each other. Everytime I saw an old friend like Charlie or Libby or Boone, I would smile and felt that first season excitement coming back. Not once did I suspect they were all dead and meeting up after death. Like “Through the Looking Glass” it was a big fake out. Though it wasn’t the purpose I would have chosen for the sideways it did let me have see a happy ending for all our losties and I got to see them find redemption and love yet again. The scenes with Sawyer and Juliet, Kate and Jack, Sun and Jin, Charlie and Claire were all moving and the final scene between Jack and his dad was wonderfully acted and very emotional for me. To end with just Jack dying in the bamboo field would have been too sad for me, the sideways lessened the pain and even made his death more beautiful.

The weakness I see in this season was poor planning on the writer’s part. They should have picked up the pace in the first 8 episodes and gotten rid of some of the plot points we really didn’t need. When I was introduced to the temple I got angry at the thought they we had to waste time on new characters. The temple scenes and storyline could have been reduced to one show and just showed the importance of Sayid and the water and the knife and the possibility of killing MIB. Ultimately Dogen and Lennon weren’t important to the story.

Highlights for me were the reveal of smokey, the journey that Sawyer had to go through dealing with Juliet’s death, Jack’s acceptance of his fate, Sun and Jin finding each other again and Sayid’s redemption.

Scenes that will I never forget are the final moments on the sub for Sayid and Sun and Jin and the beach crying scene. Charlie’s recreation of his death in the flooded car, and Jack and MIB’s final battle and finally Jack’s death with Vincent by his side.

I also commend the bravery of the writers for Ab Aterno, Across the Sea and the Sideways reveal. They told their story the way they wanted to tell it. I just wish they told it a bit faster so they could have fit in a bit more mythology.

As I reflected upon the season there were things about it that bothered me but ultimately there was more that I liked than I disliked.

But what will stick out the most for me this season was the fun we had on the board, trying to pick a side, Team Jacob, Team Dark (or my own personal Team Sawyer) coming up with theories and helping each other understand everything that happened. Season six wouldn’t have been half as fun without YAE and Ryan and Jen.

@ coolpeace-one thing i found profound was how that brought sawyer from an outsider to an insider. he became a leader in his own right, in season 5, finally asked JACK why he couldn’t let go, and in season 6 had to come to a place of final peace. He LET GO.

so it is the whole of season 6 seemed to be TRANSCENDENCE. Getting beyond the things that held them in life. Its been listed by COOLPEACE & others, as to the final meaning of each characters journey, so i won’t retread.

Just to say, the idea that what we were watching on TV was a transcendental exploration of life & death is very astounding. the sheer audacity of presenting that story on mainstream commercial TV is wonderful & commendable. regardless of the actual shape of the ending, that they went that route is very surprising and worthy of respect.

I am one that was against the idea of the FS being out of time. I still have issues with that. But that they structured the final season as a commentary to the fans is one of the things i like best, and think will serve as a great farewell.

Christian’s funeral came at the end of the series, at the end of the episode, and at the end of our journey. We had a solemn moment to reflect, grieve, let go, and move on. We we given a moment of peace that went beyond the island, beyond the drama, and was very moving.

As storytelling goes that will stand as a highpoint. Beyond all the debate it garnered, it was indeed given to us as a gift. A way to begin to part with the series.

Sure, as said before, not everything was answered.

But as seasons past have gone, this gave us some threads that were tied, some that were knotted, and some that just went on.

It was typical in that sense. And I for one am happy it went this route. The answers they left out there leave room for us to fill in the blanks. The greatest stories leave room for our own interpretations. And now we can apply at least some of our theories to something we invested a lot of energy to.

Anyone still here at this the TRANSMISSION clearly cares about this show & have a clear investment.

So, as season 6 went, I am a fan. Where it ranks will likely change over time. But it did deliver in terms of mystery, excitement, and keeping us all guessing, right till the last minute, literally.

To me the final season, and the finale is steeped in CHRISTIAN mythology.

JACK is the savior. He is the christ figure. Did we ever find out his middle name? Are his initials by chance JC? Not sure, but regardless, he filled that role.

In regards to DAVID I have come to see him as part of the ‘christian’ trinity. We have Christian Shepard, the father, JACK, the son, and DAVID-to me-is the HOLY GHOST. The holy ghost serves these purposes in Catholic beliefs:

* Conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit acts to convince the unredeemed person both of the sinfulness of their actions, and of their moral standing as sinners before God.[7]

* Bringing to conversion. The action of the Holy Spirit is seen as an essential part of the bringing of the person to the Christian faith.[8] The new believer is “born again of the Spirit”.[9]

* As a comforter or Paraclete, one who intercedes, or supports or acts as an advocate, particularly in times of trial.

So, for me, that is where DAVID came from/what he is.

Also I have been thinking about LOCKE as his status as a martyr. JOHN THE BAPTIST was a historical character that preceded JESUS. JOHN THE BAPTIST believed in living austerely, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, expected an apocalypse. Many Christian theologians believe that the ministry of Jesus followed John’s, and some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John. Both John and Jesus reportedly preached at times of great political, social, and religious conflict.

These themes pretty reflective of Locke and are very interesting.

So, here we are, after the END and left to explore all the interesting mesh of pieces.

As said, this has been an amazing ride & one I’ve loved sharing with everyone here. It took a long time for me to get motivated to start posting, but I have always enjoyed following & seeing how dynamic this fan-dom is.

@ Islandsidhe : Absolutely it makes sense. I like that possibility that there were various afterworlds for various characters and as you mentioned Rousseau’s may not have included Ben, but she was in his. That is what I like, all things considered about the way Lost ended – you can tweak the final moments however they mean the most to you.

@ Carol : Very nice thoughts. You know, I can’t say that I personally regret having had the Temple story being told as it was. I did come to enjoy Dogen’s character and it made for some great scenes between him and Hurely and Jack and of course the fight scene with Sayid. And we did see Dogen in the Sideways at the recital with his son – so he did get to be with his son in death.

During the Temple Time we also did get parallel storylines on the Island, who can forget the scene with Sawyer and Kate on the dock – that was very powerful for me. During that same episode we had the great confrontation between Jack and Dogen and a green little pill and finally the reintroduction of Claire.

In another episode, we saw Locke finally getting buried, MIB’s confrontation with Richard and his recruitment of Sawyer. We were also introduced to young Jacob, and the name cave (wasn’t that a nice HFC moment?).

Remember how nice it was to see Hurley and Jack trekking through the jungle again, like in season 1, we were given a sentimental journey back to the caves, Jack’s dad’s broken coffin and finally we see the Lighthouse and it was revealed that Jacob was able to follow his candidates’ lives off island. We also were given a better understanding of where Claire had been and of course squirrel baby.

Finally, in Sundown, we were given an action packed episode: the fantastic fight scene between Sayid and Dogen. We were told about Dogen’s sacrifice. We learned that MIB could not be killed, even with a special knife. We had Dogen’s death by Sayid and the great Smokey destruction and who could forget that very eerie final scene where the survivors followed MIB out of the Temple.

With the exception of LA X 1 and 2, I just summarize some of the major scenes that took place during the 4 episodes of Temple Time. I thought they were entertaining. If I were to gripe about slow time, it would be when MIB was just waiting around for all the candidates to come to him.

As for the various mythological questions that remained, here is how I reconcile myself with those; In our reality, we have similar unanswered questions about our own history – the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Egyptian pyramids, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and Stonehenge to name just a few. We can only speculate as to how they were built, we have no definitive answers. Therefore, as in real life, so as in fiction – I am alright with that.

@coolpeace – I just think they could have done away with some of the actual temple footage, the off temple stuff like Sawyer and Kate and Hurley and Jack was great. Smokey wiping out everyone had to be done, that was necessary for us to take Smokey seriously.

You brought up so much stuff of season six that I feel I have to rewatch it all again. Like I said, more to like than dislike, a lot of major character development went on.

I guess my real solution would be 26 episodes instead of the 18 so nothing had to be cut out.

Wow, this is really hitting me that this is over and there will not be a season 7. So sad. I Know a lot more will come out with the dvd sets, I wish I could justify buying the complete set but I can’t. I’ll just be buying season six and hopefully borrowing the complete set from someone else to watch the extras.

@coolpeace – did you join the transmission facebook page? I hope we don’t lose touch after the podcasts are over. I like the way your mind works.

@ coolpeace-while you summed up a lot of the characters redemptions, I felt SAWYERS was impressive. Seeing him come to stand where JACK had, in which he made a mistake, and people died, was amazing. In that moment he let go of Juliet & forgave Jack. It was such a long way away from the Sawyer of season 1. He was the outsider when he began. We got to watch him grow to become an insider and a leader. Finally to being someone that could forgive. It was remarkable. It was what the whole season was all about, TRANSCENDENCE.

To me thats what the series really was about. Everyone had to work through and let go of what they were carrying with them, and just be. What is most amazing is that we watched a mainstream TV show about transcendence & redemption and had no idea exactly what we were seeing until the end. The FS was a bit of a juke, but in the end served to counterpoint the on island actions in a very unique fashion.

Season 6 seemed like a true LOST season to me. It tied up a few of its threads, knotted some others, and left a whole bunch out there to be tied up by the audience. While I wasn’t prepared for that, I dont know what i was really thinking in expecting anything else. This is after all still LOST.

Of all the seasons, I think this one will most benefit from re-examination. I felt as if with each episode the weight of expectation really bore down on the show. With each hour that slipped by there was that much more expectation & desire for answers, conclusions, and resolutions. I brought that same hope each week as well, and a few times was very let down that ‘nothing’ really seemed to happen.

But now seeing all of the seeing THE END I like where we ended up. Sure, I would have liked some changes, but as time has passed, I have come to accept the emotional farewell they created and respect the decision to leave so many open threads out there.

I really feel the decision of the creators to stage the ending at a funeral was so fitting and right. They broke the 4th wall and set up something for US, the audience. We were all gathered around together viewing this moment in which we were saying goodbye. It was about accepting what happened, knowing it was important, but that in the end, it is over. And now we CAN let it be over.

At the time I felt the ending was a let down, a cop out, and nothing but irrelevant. Now, I am coming to accept the limitations of what was presented and take it with the spirit of the presentation.

To me this season was pure CHRISTIAN Theology/mythology. Jack was a messiah, John a Martyr, and David was the Holy Spirit.

We begin with the TRINITY of father, son, holy ghost.

In short, I think the character of DAVID was a manifestation of this idea. CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD is the father, Jack, the son, and DAVID is the holy spirit. For those not familiar with christian doctrine/mythology here’s a brief description:

The Holy Spirit is said to be a piece of the TRINITY, equal to the others but carrying its own unique properties. Some of these include bringing to conversion, in which the Spirit acts as an essential part of bringing a person to believe. It also acts as comforter who intercedes, supports, and advocates in times of personal trail.

I think that sounds like the role DAVID played for Jack.

Now, to John Locke as metaphoical John the Baptist.

John The Baptist was a historical figure who believed in living austerely, challenging sinful rulers and, many Christian theologians believe that Jesus followed John for a time and that some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John. Both John and Jesus reportedly preached at times of great conflict.

sound at all like LOCKE?

Locke was a figure for me that I really loved. He was a character that I felt got short changed. He ends so weak & feeble at Ben’s hands. A seeming pawn. But as I thought on it, in terms of the trinity, and christian myth, I saw John not so much as a puppet, but as his namesake in the bible, a martyr to the island. Locke was a man committed to the path and accepting of his fate for a greater cause. Just like John the Baptist.

All of season 6 i watched hoping that the real John Locke would STAND UP as it were, but was ultimately let down. And I think that hurt my viewing of the season as I went through it.

Now that I know LOCKE gave his life to bring everyone back to save the others, I find more comfort in his end. Especially in that he succeeded in doing what he left he island for.

In short, I am content with season 6. I think there will be a lot more to notice
now that we’ve seen what the puzzle is supposed to look like. But I am still amazed that even up to the last two minutes of the final show we still weren’t sure what was going to happen or even exactly what it was we were seeing.

Kudos for keeping us on the edge all that time creators! Kudos.

@ everyone-On a personal note I want to say thank you to everyone here. Season 6 I invested a lot more intense scrutiny to. Not that I figured much more out, but I enjoyed the process a whole lot more. And it was mainly due to everyones great interest & passion when it came to their ideas & thoughts. I have loved this experience, and am grateful to you all.

Special praise to Ryan & Jen. You guys really have done a spectacular job. Not only in bringing so many voices tot he table, but in the way you carry yourselves. I would always try & hold out judgement about an episode till reading the initial Transmission reaction. You guys added such a level headed and thoughtful take on the shows, even if it was in a direction different from my own response.

I was glad I wasn’t the only one a bit off after Across the Sea, and curious how at peace you were with the finale. But regardless of the outcome, the process really was what I valued. So thank you both.

One note for Pop-Spotting. It might be interesting to go into some of the books featured in LOST. I am working through WATERSHIP DOWN at the moment and am blown away at the parallels. Not that all things must flow from LOST, but it is a jumping off point. Regardless, GREAT LUCK in the road ahead.

You are right on the money with Sawyer’s journey – looking back at the pilot in season 1 who would have guessed how far the Island would bring him. That is great storytelling.

A few weeks prior to the finale, I had posted thoughts about the audience’s expectation being unduly ‘emotional’ due to fact of this being the last season. I tried hard to ‘let go’ of my expectations near the end of the season.

You know, as much as it is hard for us fans to see this experience of LOST come to an end – can we not put ourselves in the writers shoes and understand how much MORE difficult is was for them who gathered everyday for 6 years around the same table and lived, breathed, and sherperd those characters into the story that became LOST.

So when you say that you have come to accept and respect the emotional farwell they created – I totally agree with you and it is my hope that others, whether they liked the end or not, let go of the Darlton bashing. Because if I know something – I am sure that this farwell was as much theirs to their characters as much as it was for us the viewers.

@Carol and Embie- You’re not alone girls. I respect but don’t understand why many people would erase the sideways. For all of us who followed the story of those grea charachters the sideways were necessary. I spent the whole season waiting for Sawyer and Juliet’s reunion, for example, I ddn’t like to lose her but it did worth just to see that amazing and beautiful scene where both Josh and Elizabeth showed once again their chemistry and the good actors they are.

I loved to se Daniel and John and inmy opinion the story needed to be cosed in this way. I said this more than once I think but I wanted the sideways to be a place where they could live happily ever after, and well, it was a place where John could live with the love of his life, where Jack could be a father trying not to make the same mistakes Christian made with him, where Hurley could be lucky, where Ben could have a good relationship with Roger, and where Juliet could be happy and not had married that stupid guy.

Whether we liked the ending, hated the ending, or fall somewhere in between, there is no questioning the impact that this board and YAE has had in helping all of us better enjoy the LOST experience along the way. And in the end to help us all to “let go and move on”.

Personally I just can’t imagine what it would have been like if I wouldn’t have had all of you to bounce crackpot theories off of, share ideas on what the meaning of things seen actually meant, or listen to my whining a day or so after the finale when the realization that LOST was actually over sank in.

Carol from Boston and greenberry, I want to especially thank the two of you for not only taking the time to understand where I was coming from on some of my posts, but to also help me to “see the other side”, and actually appreciate the very things I disliked about the ending. As I said in a previous post, the fantastic part of LOST and especially Season 6, has been the friends I have made along the way through The Transmission.

I can’t WAIT to hear the Podcast tomorrow on the Season 6 review, and then the following Podcast reviewing the entire Series.

@ chris ~ totally with you on part 1 (esp. re: Sawyer!) ~ and part 2… there ARE Christian analogies there for those who choose to see the story this way, but I don’t think the writers’ intention was to be specific in this regard, but rather to present an over-arching spiritual and philosophical tone of redemption through love and forgiveness and digging deep (and as you note TRANSCENDANCE)

@Coolpeace very deep post, and you mostly closed the switch on the Eloise question for me. thanks a bunch.

this is something that i’m going to miss about this blog, the depth of thought and consideration shown by every single person who posts here. we might like each other’s ideas, we might not, but the brainpower that goes into everything put up here is pretty amazing. where else could one hope to find so many smart people to hang around with, not to mention that they mostly are able to think outside-the-box.

a shoutout to @Carol, Ryan and Jen, LReene and YAE for making this a special place.for years i’ve lived in walking distance to CALTECH, and i bet i couldn’t find a like bunch of brighter minds there.

@coolpeace – i agree that this series was something difficult to end, for so many reasons. indeed i think time will help everyone come to terms with the end, the series as a whole, and the mysteries left out there. i am really glad we’re here looking at the season as a whole. its given me a chance to re-examine a lot of what i missed based on THE MOMENTUM of the story.

i am definitely one of those that was frustrated when the final THUD hit. i didnt go after DARLTON in any personal way, but did say i felt they cheated.

but thanks to this forum i’ve been able to find ways to interpret the series that leaves me feeling good about it as a whole.

heres an example: WALT.

we never got an answer of what was going on with him. not explicitly. but if you pull back, put the pieces together, there is enough there to build the story. the island brought him there because he was special. he was drawn away, but still remained special. like miles, or daniel. locke chooses not to involve him anymore. BUT that doesn’t mean he won’t stand on those island shores ever again. after all, the island may not be done with him. and in the ending as they wrote it, his story can still be told. could he return and be a leader? yep. could he encounter aaron down the line? sure.

i think it was strategic the threads they tied up. and while i WAS at odds with some of the choices the creators made, I am HAPPY about giving the audience a chance to participate in building the story ourselves.

@greenberry – in regards to the chrisitian analogy i agree that i dont think they were trying to make a christian metaphor specifically. as you said, it was there if you wanted to see it. but really christianity is just one story with the same characters. JOSEPH CAMPBELL’s Power of Myth is all about the lineage of that MESSIAH story.

I would guess most folks here know of that PBS documentary, or Campbell’s work. If not I think every LOST fan would find so much in there of interest.

When I mentioned the Darlton bashing, please do not think I was referring to anyone here. I had just read comments from another blog where things were said that I found disrespectful towards them, so that is where I was coming from.

One of the reasons why I choose to participate in this conversation at the Transmission this final year was because I saw nothing but a respectful group that enjoyed exchanging thoughts and impressions without needing to put down anyone else’s opposing ideas. Trust me, I have been ‘out there’ and at times it just is not pretty.

So, I have said it before and others have reiterated the sentiment – but it can not be over emphasized that YAE are special in what we all made together, this place, the Transmission, where we came to find one another other every week. The most important part of our Lost experience was the time that we spent together on this blog, because nobody should have to go through the emotional journey that was LOST alone.

Thank you Ryan – Thank you Jen – you needed all of us and we needed you.

@coolpeace and @ryan – Ryan you have my permission to give coolpeace my email address. Now you don’t have to join facebook Coolpeace – you can just email me. Just put your name is the subject line. I assume Ryan must have my email because I give it with my post name.

@Ryan – is this putting you out too much? If so, don’t worry about it.

@coolpeace – re: facebook – “peer pressure, peer pressure” if you join just go to “account settings” and then set all your privacy settings very high so only your friends can get into your account. Even if you post on the Transmission, no one can see anything but your comments on that page unless you “friend” them. That is what I do.

Shortly you will be gathering our thoughts for Season 6 and you had planned to do an overall podcast spanning the entire series. Consider doing 5 more podcasts, one for each seasons 1 through 5. You choose the length of time between each podcast, for example every 2 months we review a new season in light of the final outcome and final revelations. So it would not take too much time from Popspotting or in fact these LOST podcast could be part of Popspotting.

In other words, every 8 or 15 weeks Popspotting could present a special LOST in review for each season as a whole. YAE could give our thoughts as per usual and those that wish to see all the episodes could have the time or if some only wish to rewatch only a few favourites – it would be up to each one to review, rewatch, rehash as they see fit but we would all gather one more time around each of the 5 seasons.

If I only was allowed one sentence, I would say that I could do without Season 6, the end of Season 5 with the white light was a more fitting end.

On the other side I love the characters and the story so much I would love to have the show around for much longer. It may be that I still do not understand the ending but I still cannot get over the fact that the island was fought over two “damaged” and spoiled kids with a very weird mother. That may sound very simplistic but after all the drama, all the mysteries and history, it feels highly anti climactic. Even after three weeks, I cannot shake that feeling off.

On the other hand there were episodes like “Ab Aeterno” and the “End”, “LAX”, were excellent in terms of production quality, drama, suspense but again at the very end of the show, the last 20 minutes or so, I was looking at my watch. I wanted it to end, it felt empty. On a second viewing it was a bit better but still…

Acting was great all along but in this last season Terry and Josh were terrific.

I thank you guys for being who you are, we are all Lost geeks alike and that was a very significant part of the experience.

@Chris – Wow! You really put a lot of thought into this season. I commend you on all that hard work. I really liked your thoughts about Sawyer and Locke. I always felt sorry for him and I like that in the end everyone admits that he was special and now respect him.

I would have to say that Sawyer did come the furthest as a character, started out as a loner only out for himself and ended up a very caring person, ready to put his life on the line for others.

It is difficult for me to pick out a favorite character I enjoyed them all. Several weeks ago I suggested a whole emmy catagory for Lost actors in the “Ask Matt” column on TVguide.com (he printed my letter, and also my comments on the finale the week after, I was thrilled) I wish they could really do that. The acting was fantastic and if Terry, Matthew, Josh, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Emerson and Nestor aren’t nominated I will be very upset.

as far as a favorite character, i’m going to be different and choose Kate. i’m always surprised when i read posts that don’t like her. yes, i’m a man, and i think she’s way hot. but she’s also the soldier of the show, always willing to take on any problem. thats what led to most of her problems on the mainland, if she saw a problem she just dealt with it. not always the right choice, but who of us makes those every time?
and thats when her character seemed to stall a bit on the show. no major problems to attack, no long, difficult hikes to take. it seems that relationships aren’t very easy for her.

@ aaron r ~ Yay, another KATE FAN!!! It was my defense of her that got me (brave enough to start) posting here, after quietly just reading comments for a year or two ~ I agree… to me she is a super passionate person, and in many ways the ‘heart’ of the show (and I’m a woman).

@Coolpeace ~ COOL about staying in touch!!

Sawyer’s character reeaaallly stretched, and Josh Holloway as an actor too!! (and of course he’s always a treat on the eyes!) I still think he would be marvelous in a comedy (with the ‘Miles’ actor?) ~ his comic timing is wonderful, but he got good at showing pain and regret too